How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 198

fatigue in the last 50 meters). With continued practice athletes can
manipulate images to see and feel the perfect race and see and feel
themselves responding to any adverse situations. They should be able
to incorporate performance cues into their visualization to create a
vivid image of how they want to perform.
Visualization and imagery is powerful. Our brains do not know the
difference between real and imagined success. We can convince
ourselves that we have already successfully done something, if we are
consistent in “reprogramming” our memory.
And when it is backed up by the physical, for lack of a better word right
now, preparation, it becomes almost magical in its applications.
But you have to believe, you have to want to believe, need to believe. It
doesn’t work if you only “sort of” want it to happen. You need the fire in
your soul, hunger, call it whatever you want, to make the visualizations
take hold and you must spend time at it every day.
Old old principles of psycho-cybernetics and psycho-prophylaxis. Spend
21 days at this and you can set new patterns of behaviour and results. It
really does work but it gets ignored a fair bit. You cannot measure it,
attach a diode to it, track it with a machine that goes ping, so those of us
who are used to taking measurements in scientifically quantifiable
terms get a bit uncomfortable with the principles involved at times.
The thing is: Once we have done something successfully the first time, it
is far easier to repeat that thing.
Our brains are pretty incredible. As long as you do not try to convince
yourself that you will wake up on Day X to discover you have suddenly
lost 20 pounds, grown 6″ and have been awarded a Nobel Prize for
breathing, it will work. The goal still has to be believable and humanly
achievable.
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